This invention relates to support housings and, more particularly, concerns a housing for supporting and routing a plurality of cables which may transmit electric current, light signals, or the like from one point to another of a vehicle.
In the past, various types of support devices have been proposed for grouping and holding a multiplicity of electrical or light signaling cables together as they extend from one area of a vehicle to another. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,488,096, to Newman issued Nov. 15, 1949, 3,104,658, to Olsen issued Sept. 24, 1963, and 3,339,010, to Brentrup issued Aug. 29, 1967, each discloses ignition harnesses in which the ignition cables are encapsulated within a solid plastic body and extend from a distributor for independent connection with the spark plugs of an automotive engine.
Another form of support device that has previously been proposed for use with ignition wires can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,697,783, to Schwarze issued Jan. 1, 1929. In the Schwarze '783 patent the support device consists of two "T" shaped metallic half-shells welded together and including a pair of retaining clips for separating a high tension lead cable from the spark plug cables. In addition, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,255 to Lock et al, issued Nov. 1, 1988 shows a cable conduit system which includes a conduit element having a plurality of channels formed therein and includes a retention member and a lock member adapted to be located within the channels at intervals along their lengths for holding the cables.
The problem with the cable support devices seen in the above-mentioned Newman, Olsen, and Brentrup patents is that the cables are embedded within the support structure and, therefore, it is not possible to replace a single cable if, for some reason, it is desirable to do so. The device illustrated in the Schwarze patent, although not having the cables integrally formed with the support structure in the manner seen in Newman, Olsen, and Brentrup patents, would not be satisfactory in that the cables are bunched together in physical contact with each other which could result in the creation of an induced voltage between the cables with consequent misfiring of the spark plugs. In addition, the cable arrangement in Schwarze fails to provide an orderly appearance which has been found to be an important consideration to present purchasers of vehicles. As to the conduit system disclosed in the Lock et al patent, even though this conduit system may not suffer from the difficulties referred to with respect to the above-mentioned patented devices, the fact that a separate retainer and lock means is required in order to hold the cables in place causes the system to be expensive to manufacture and assemble.